Heel-clamping device for safety ski bindings



Dec. 19, 1967 H. scHr-:IB 3,359,011

HEEL-CLAMPING DEVICE FOR SAFETY SKI BINDINGS I N VEN TUR. HE RMA /V/VSCHE/B H. sci-EIB 3,359,011

HEEL-CLAMFING DEVICE FOR SAFETY SKI BINDINGS Dec. 19, 1967 2 Sheetsheet2 Filed Sept. 14, 1965 INVENTOR. HERMANN SCHE/B United States Patent O3,359,011 HEEL-CLAMPING DEVHCE FOR SAFETY SKI BINDINGS Hermann Scheib,Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, as-

signor to Hannes Marker, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Filed Sept. 14,1965, Ser. No. 487,186 Claims priority, application Germany, July 5,1965, M 65,816 4 Claims. (Cl. 280-1L35) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLGSURE Heelclamping device for safety ski bindings, more particularly for the heelportion of a ski boot, which combines the desirable features of a longthong with a releasable binding and pivotal turntable. Structurally, thedevice consists of a turntable that is fastened to the ski and isdetachable from it. The turntable is mounted for rotating motion andcarries a safety heel tightener for the purpose of pressing the heel ofthe boot forwardly against a toe iron. The heel tightener includes asafety feature which permits release when the ski boot or footexperiences an excessive pull. The turntable is provided with a coverplate that clamps to it lbut is easily detachable from it. The longthongis carried by the cover plate.

For many years longthong bindings for fastening the boot on the ski havebeen preferred, especially by racers, because with the longthong anexceptionally rm connection between boot and ski can be obtained, givingexcellent control of the ski. It has also become known that the mostdiversified safety precautions have been taken in connection withlongthong bindings in order to prevent foot injuries in case of sidewiseor forward falls. The arrangement of a turntable on the ski in thevicinity of the heel, with lugs for the longthong, is already wellknown.In this case the pull of the heel tightener generates a force in thelongitudinal direction of the ski pressing the foot forward against afront abutment, preferably a safety toe iron, by means of a thrustmember engaging in the heel groove. However, these well-known heelclamping devices have the disadvantage that, although in sidewise fallsthe foot can turn in relation to the ski, in forward falls a release isnot possible because the foot is held by the longthong to the turntablewhich although rotatable is not detachable from the ski. Even in solelysidewise falls there is danger of injury because the foot, although itcan swivel, is still tied to the ski.

Efforts have been made to overcome these disadvantages by arranging forthe disengagement of some matching parts between the firmly mounted baseplate for the turntable and the turntable itself after the turntable hasbeen rotated by a certain angle, whereupon it can be completely detachedfrom the base plate. The disengage ment of the boot from the ski is thusachieved in case of a sidewise fall but the danger existing in a forwardfall is not eliminated.

It has also been attempted to develop a kind of fastener for the heeltightener and the longthong that will enable the fastener to slip out oftheir holders and thus release the boot. These proposed schemes,however, could not be materialized because their construction is toocomplicated and, in case of danger, the release action is not positivelyensured.

In other Well-kn0wn heel-clamping devices with long thongs the turntableisdetachably fastened to the base plate or to the pivot and will bereleased by detent devices when the detent pressure is overcome. ln caseof an excessive pull the detent resistance of the detent devices isovercome and the turntable separates from the ski. These experimentswere also unsuccessful because the installation of detent devicesrequires much height and because in many cases, if the foot is twistedduring a forward fall, the release mechanism cannot function. Besides,there is some danger in these and also in some other heel-clampingdevices in which the longthong itself is fastened to the turntable withdetent devices, namely that as a result of a continued though notexcessive pull such as may occur when the skier is heavily leaningforward combined with simultaneous minor jolts, such as are frequentlyexperienced when passing through troughs or sliding down over icyrunways, a release is effected because the elements of the detent device`do not return to their original position on account of the continuouspull and will be further shifted with each successive jolt until nally arelease takes place without the incidence of an excessive pull such asthat for which the detent devices have been Set.

In general, therefore, the use of the longthong on the currentheel-clamping devices with safety release for forward falls had to begiven up and only the turntable, which is effective in sidewise falls,has been combined with a heel safety tightener that releases the foot inforward falls. So the rm connection obtained between boot and ski by alongthong binding had to be abandoned for the sake of safety against allpossible kinds of falls.

The present invention solves the problem of creating a longthong bindingwhich in spite of the desired firm counection between boot and ski canrelease the foot in sidewise as well as forward falls by having aturntable, pivoted in the vicinity of the heel but undetachably mountedon the ski, which is equipped with a well-known safety heel tightener ofany chosen construction, said heel tightener pressing the foot forwardagainst a front abutment of the binding by means of a thrust memberengaging in the heel groove but releasing it under the elect of anexcessive pull in a direction approximately vertical to the ski surface,and a cover plate clamped to the turntable but readily detachable andequipped with lugs for the attachment of a longthong. Thus the releaseof the foot in case of a forward fall does not-depend on the longthongand its attachment to the turntable but on the safety heel tightener. Incase of a forward fall disconnection of the turntable is not necessary.But the advantages of the longthong binding are obtained, nevertheless,and the cover plate carrying the longthong and attached to the turntablecan separate from the ski when the foot is released by the safety heeltightener. 'Ihe functioning of the safety heel tightener can be affectedneither by a twisting of the boot in relation to the ski nor by severalsuccessive single jolts of minor intensity lbecause the known safetyheel tighteners are always releasing the foot only after a certainadjustable and predetermined total pull has been exceeded or after theheel has been lifted a certain amount from the ski surface.

In another advantageous embodiment of this invention one end of thelongthong which is fastened at a point -in front of this end to thecorresponding lug of the cover plate may serve as a retaining thong andbe connected with one of the thrust members of the safety heeltightener. The cover plate may preferably have some sharpedged ribsrunning, in their normal position, in the longitudinal direction of theski, penetrating in the Well-known manner the rubber material of the skiboot heel and causing the cover plate and with it the turntable tofollow instantly every rotary motion of the boot without any danger ofthe heel slipping out of the cover plate. On the other hand, the ribs,by their normal longitudinal direction are o not resisting the forwardthrusting force of the heel tightener.

For adaptation to various heel widths the bent-up shackles for the thonglugs can be adjustably attached to the base plate or else a variety ofdifferent cover plates may be used for different heel widths. Foradaptation to the heel width it is particularily advantageous to providespacer blocks or strips, preferably made of a plastic, with slots forslipping them over the shackles for the longthong lugs and with unequalwall thicknesses on each side of the slot so that, by selection of theheavier or the lighter wall thickness of the spacer, adaptation to sixdifferent heel widths can be accomplished. Such slotted spacers withunequal wall thicknesses can also be used independently from the otherfeatures of the invention on heel-clamping devices with shackles for thethong lugs in order to obviate the rather expensive adjustability of theshackle distance.

The invention is further explained in the following description inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a heel clamping device according to thisinvention, in the clamping position and with the boot strapped on;

FIG. 2 shows the turntable of the heel clamping device according to FIG.1 with cover plate but without boot and heel tightener;

FIG. 3 is a side view, in sectional elevation, of the detachable coverplate;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the cover plate;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are a top plan view and a side view respectively of aspacer.

FIGURE l shows the heel-clamping device according to this invention, onthe boot in the clamping position, while the FIGURES 2 to 6 are showingthe details. The turntable 8 is rotatably attached to the ski 1 in awellknown and therefore not-further-to-be-explained manner by means of abase plate which is arranged overlappingly in an opening of theturntable 8 and is rmly screwed on to the ski. In an also well-knownmanner this turntable is equipped with grooves or ribs 9, arrangedconsecutively in the longitudinal direction of the ski, onto which thepulling elements 5 and 6, made of wire cable, can be hooked, thus givinglengthwise adjustability by the selection of suitable grooves or ribs 9.Fastened to the pulling elements 5 and 6 is an also well-known safetyheel tightcner 7 whose construction is not to be described here since agreat variety of designs can be used. According to the invention theturntable 8 is covered by a cover plate 10 which can be detached fromthe turntable and is in clamping Contact with the turntable only throughthe leaf springs 15 and 16. For the purpose of securing the position ofthe cover plate in relation to the turntable there are the bent-up ears17 and 18, 23 and 24 of the cover plate and also a recess 25 that fitsinto a recess of the base plate (not shown on the drawing). On bothsides of the cover plate angular shackles are provided with rings 13 and14 for fastening the longthong 3. In the Well-known manner the longthong3 can be wrapped around the boot 2 with its end 4 beyond the fasteningpoint of the longthong 3 on ring 13 serving as a retaining thong andthus being tied to the pull-cable 5. It is essential that the longthong3, as the drawing shows, is tied up on the holding ring 13 and notmerely drawn through it so that the pull exerted by the longthong doesnot extend to the pull-cable 5 through the retaining thong 4.

The cover plate has ribs 19 to 22 contributing like the recess 25 to thestiffening of the cover plate 10, but even more so for the purpose ofsecuring a rigid torsional connection between the cover plate with theturntable and the ski boot heel, which is usually made of rubber. Asshown on FIG. 2 the cover plate 10 also has notches for bringing out thepull-cables 5 and 6 in a satisfactory manner.

Under excessive pull, as is apt to occur in a forward fall, the foot isreleased by the heel tightener 7 in which case the heel tightener,together with its pull cables, remains connected to the turntable 8 andthe latter likewise to the ski through its base plate. Due to theeasily-detachable clamping connection made by the leaf springs 15 and 16the cover plate 10 is lifted from the turntable 8 so that the boot,together with the longthong and the cover plate, will be disengaged fromthe ski and Will retain only a loose connection with the heel clampingdevice through the retaining thong 4 in order to prevent loss of theski.

In order to make the heel-clamping device usable for boots with heels ofdifferent widths, either the spacing between the shackles 11 and 12 onthe cover plate can be made adjustable or cover plates with differentclearances between the shackles 11 and 12 can be provided, so that thecover plate 10 can be exchanged to suit the width of the heel. However,the first possibility is relatively complicated and therefore expensive,while the second one rcquires an undue amount of storekeeping. It istherefore quite advantageous to slip spacer blocks 26 and 27 on theangular shackles 11 and 12 according to the individual requirements. Thespacer blocks are to have slots for attachment and can preferably bemade of plastics with different wall thicknesses on each side of theslot so that by omission of the spacer blocks, by the use of only oneblock and by variation of the wall thickness on the inside of the lugsadjustment for six different widths of the ski boot is possible.

What is claimed is:

1. A heel-clamping device for safety ski bindings, cornprising incombination:

(a) a rotatable but undetachable turntable fastened on the ski in thevicinity of the heel,

(b) a safety heel tightener fastened on the turntable,

said heel tightener pressing the foot forward against a front abutmentof the binding by means of a thrust element engaging in the heel groovebut releasing the foot under an excessive pull in a directionapproximately vertical to the ski surface (c) a cover plate, clamped tobut easily detachable from the turntable, and

( d) a longthong fastened to the cover plate.

2. A heel-clamping device according to claim 1, having one end of thelongthong that is fastened on the corresponding thong lug at a spot infront of this end connected with one of the pull cables of the heelsafety tightener.

3. A heel-clamping device according to claim 1, having a cover platewith sharp-edged ribs running in their normal position in thelongitudinal direction of the ski.

4. A heel-clamping device for safety ski bindings with bent-up shacklesfor thong rings, said shackles being attached to a heel plate,particularly according to claim 1, having spacer blocks or stripspreferably made of plastics, for adaptation to the heel width, withslots for slipping over the metal strap of the shackles for the thongrings and having wall thicknesses on each side that are different fromone another.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,836,428 5/1958 Marker 280--11.35

3,009,710 11/1961 Marker 28011.35

3,160,421 12/1964 Bugg 280--11.35

3,204,973 9/1965 Voster et al. 280-1135 3,206,221 9/ 1965 Schneider 2SC-11.35

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,355,083 2/1964 France.

BENJAMIN HERSH, Primary Examiner.

M. L. SMITH, Assistant Examiner.

1. A HEEL-CLAMPING DEVICE FOR SAFETY SKI BINDINGS, COMPRISING INCOMBINATION: (A) A ROTATABLE BUT UNDETACHABLE TURNTABLE FASTENED ON THESKI IN THE VICINITY OF THE HEEL. (B) A SAFETY HEEL TIGHTENER FASTENED ONTHE TURNTABLE, SAID HEEL TIGHTENER PRESSING THE FOOT FORWARD AGAINST AFRONT ABUTMENT OF THE BINDING BY MEANS OF A THRUST ELEMENT ENGAGING INTHE HEEL GROOVE BUT RELEASING THE FOOT UNDER AN EXCESSIVE PULL IN ADIRECTION APPROXIMATELY VERTICAL TO THE SKI SURFACE